The development of lanthanide coordination chemistry depends on the availability of suitable precursors. Many lanthanide halides are oligomers having low solubilities in most organic solvents. Their low solubility often limits their use as suitable precursors to other lanthanide containing molecules. Much attention has been devoted to the development of synthetic routes to lanthanide halide materials with better solubilities. These materials tend to be complexes of lanthanide halides with donor ligands that are coordinated (i.e. attached) to the lanthanide. Many of these complexes include oxygen- or nitrogen-containing donor ligands, where the oxygen or nitrogen is coordinated to the lanthanide.
Better routes for synthesizing lanthanide halide complexes are desirable.